Infiltration
by G. Sun
Summary: Risa has to find a way to get to the headquarters of the Heartless but finds something surprising while she's there. Someone seems to be worried about a boy named "Seth" and what really happened to Risa's missing friend Seth? Will Risa get through to him and bring him over to the good side? Read after AN INCREDIBLE DUO.
1. Chapter 1

**And moving on to the next story…**

Mizuki should be fine, she has dealt with the Heartless before. She will figure something out, she seems like an intelligent, independent person. I told her not to worry about me jumping back into the Darkness but a part of me is afraid of the outcome. It is not too late to take this Master Emerald shard and run, but to where? Heartless fill the streets, there are barely people around, and my temporary home is not safe either now that it has fallen from its aerial dominion. There is nowhere to flee to, nowhere is actually safe. And I cannot go looking for Knuckles. I cannot face him just yet, not after everything that has happened-it is my dream we never find each other again or better yet he assumes I have died and forgets all about me. I am letting my mind wander, right now I have to find out where these Heartless are coming from and put a stop to them.

Grasping the shard in my hands, I hustle towards the fallen island. It has to give me some clue to getting to their world; the Master Emerald has spoken to me before. It warned me not to go with Clancy but I did not listen, if I had this world would not be drowning in Darkness. Getting on the island is not so bad, it is the Heartless that are swarming the altar that gives this place an unpleasant feeling. As I rush up the altar steps, I strike down the Heartless that sense my presence early. They are not organized and cunning, they are just insects attacking all at once so that is good news. After the altar is clear of the black creatures, I notice other chunks at my feet. There are more Master Emerald shards, it is clear someone is collecting them, Knuckles most likely. These were shown to me when my life was hanging by a thread in the Dark abyss by the man who kept showing me what happened in my past. "You saved me before," I bend down, talking to the shards. "Thank you."

I drop the shard along with the rest and view the island briefly. Nothing has changed, it is as if the island is its own separate world, free from the chaos around it despite its descent from the sky. Funny, that is how Mizuki, Mia, and I ended up here, we all fell from the same sky. If I could fly, then I could find our worlds among the skies and bring them back that way. Mizuki is working hard to protect this world and here I am daydreaming about frivolous things. "How to bring Angel Island back up to its dominion? That is the question," I take a seat on the fragments and decide to think aloud to myself. I should not stick around since it is clear Knuckles has been here but where else can I go? "I know where the Heartless come from but the question is how to get there?" Clancy used a portal to get them here probably after trapping me in the darkness.

I thought for the longest time he was dead and looking for him was a lost cause. Sometimes I would try to stay hopeful but the worsening circumstances would discourage me. But he is still alive and I have to find him and talk to him. Try to break him from whatever is holding him-Clancy does not normally act like that. His face is usually warm and inviting but when I saw him in that abyss he was the total opposite. How could Clancy act that way, I am his friend. "That was not the Clancy I knew." When I met Clancy years ago he was a considerate, amiable kid. In the village, everyone liked him because he was so friendly. Always cheerful, always optimistic, and although he lost his parents when he was five years old to an illness, he always brightened up everyone's day. At the time that I started talking to him was when I was beginning to lose any sort of feelings I had left. Everything around me seemed grey, I would only talk to Miriam and my father, and I did not have anyone I could confide in. After getting cursed, there was no one that I really wanted to talk to but everyone wanted to talk to me. _"It's Risa, she took down some thugs the other day!" "Hey Risa, is it true that you chopped down a willow tree with your own sword?" "You keep a hood over your head because you're actually a demon?"_

"They always asked such stupid questions," I snort, getting my behind comfortable on the shattered gem fragments. Some of those stories were real but they asked them without any consideration. There were some kids who did not want to get near me, their parents warned them I was a dangerous child who should not play with anybody. Clancy did not care, he talked to me anyway; he asked me why I did the bad things I did, asked me why I could not just say no to my father, personal things like that irked me and made me think about why I was the way I was. I started to trust him more than I trusted Miriam. _"Trust is when you pull your heart out and give it to someone and then they stomp on it as if it were an insect," _Father used to say to me pessimistically. Perhaps it was Mother he was talking about-when this all over, I have to talk to her about my family. Clancy too is part of my family, metaphorically speaking, and whatever is holding him, I have to get him out of it.

His face was so different, his hair was darker, and his usual optimistic countenance was swallowed by anger. Is he angry at me because I could not get to him in time? Who knows how long Clancy was in that abyss for and how long it took for him to snap? His glaring brown eyes spoke words of sheer volumes that he did not have to express with his distorted voice. I cannot afford to cling to the past and hold my remorse the way Mia does. Whatever happened to in her life when her world was taken by Darkness, she carries it like a parasol, shielding herself from any happiness. I do not think I ever saw her smile before or laugh. Mizuki is the opposite, she does not let things take her down for a while. I am sure she has her moments of distress and doubt but she always manages to make some wise joke or encourage us to do our best. She told me the future she saw has a lot in store for us, I can only hope that the three of us can handle what happens from here. An act of desperation-is that where we are now Mother? Are the three of us worms-no, are all the people here worms trying to escape an inevitable fate?

I sigh anxiously. "Knuckles will come back, I should leave now." I have done enough mental maundering for now. When I get off the fragments, I get on my knees. "Thank you for showing me the light. I know you cannot hear my voice but could you help me one last time?" I am talking to rocks, what kind of insanity have I fallen into? But as I wait, the broken rocks respond to me with a weak green glow and then revert to their sickly grey luster. I stand up and scrutinize the black door that was not there when I first got here. "The black door. It is only a plain door standing up by itself," I realize as I check for the back of the door. "This must be the black door that Erick explained to us when we all first got here. It is already opened ajar."

When I open the door completely, thick, bubbly plasma Darkness growls and fizzes furiously at me. I will not let it pull me in but instead I will have the gumption to step through. I will do whatever it takes to keep this world out of harm's way. Closing my eyes, I step through the penetrable Darkness.

J.G.P.


	2. Chapter 2

I held my breath when I stepped in and released it when it the thick Darkness no longer suffocates me. My body loosens up after getting out of that sickening Darkness. Now I find myself in a dining room setting, "A table?" I ask, surprised that I am not in that black abyss again. I can barely see anything, there is no light in this room besides the dim light from behind me. What kind of place is this? I wander down the hall, using the walls to guide me. It is a bedroom coming up, is there anyone in there? Oh, yes there is.

I crouch down and peek inside the bedroom/study, hearing someone softly pant to themselves. A girl, I can tell by her breathing. She sounds nervous about something, but what? I hear her crumble a paper and toss it by the door. "Seth woke up, I can't believe it. I thought Master killed him," she says to herself in disbelief. "What if he gets into trouble again with Mia? What am I supposed to do?"

Seth must be a friend of this girl but he knows Mia too? Are Mia and Seth friends or something more, the tone of how she phrased it makes me think so. _"…get into trouble with Mia," _she said. If I knew that blue-haired girl better I would be able to make more sense of this worried girl's words. Her tone grows dire the more she talks to herself. "Seth seemed like a completely different person. Master made him different after plunging him into death but will that be enough to kill Mia? What if she messes with Seth again, what if-eek!" My instincts tell me to spring up and burst into the room but by sheer force of will, I stay crouched in my corner. The girl releases a heavy sigh and chuckles anxiously. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was you."

Who is in there with her? Should I stick around to find out? My right hand twitches excitedly. "Why are you pointing to the door?" That is my cue to step out. Staying along the walls, I flee from the study with much haste. I put my hand on my hood and scurry down the hall, trying to keep quiet. Looking above the railing for any indications of people and finding none, I climb up the staircase, making minimal sound. "Is there someone else in here?" the somber girl demands as her voice grows closer. I have to hide in one of these rooms and then deal with whoever is inside. The one at the end, I doubt she would be that persistent. I reach the door, yanking it open and then shut it quietly. There are no lights on in here, how am I supposed to see? I feel for the knob and when I feel the lock, I turn it and quietly sigh. What is this place?

This is where the Darkness brought me but how am I going to stop my new world from being destroyed? How is this helping me find Clancy and helping Mizuki? And Mia, that blue-haired girl I do not really talk to, she is involved in all of this somehow. Clancy's phrase startles me, _Darkness is coming for you._ Heavy pounding rattles the door and shakes me off it. She knows I am in here, I need to find a good hiding spot right away. Skulking around, I get a feel for a comforter sheet for a bed. As I continue to scan around, my hand knocks something with glass down on the floor. "Hey stop it, that's Seth's room! Knock it off," rebukes the concerned girl. "It's locked for a reason so knock it off!"

I bend down and feel the jagged edges of the glass I broke and pick up something paper-like. Whoever is banging on the door is close to smashing it open, where do I hide? Clinging to the concealed object, I lean against the wall and slink along it until I bump into something that feels like a closet. Without much thought, I pull it open and gently close it. All I can do is hope I am not caught because that would be problematic.

"All right that's enough. Master is going to get on your case! Whatever is here is gone," deduces the girl. Strength has returned in her tone, "Let's go, come on. We have a mission to do." The pounding stops and their footsteps grow fainter and then they are gone.

' ' '

After scanning the area for any signs of the girl and her partner, I use the dim light outside the bedroom to examine the picture I snatched up. "A picture of Mia?" I am confused as to why this "Seth" has a picture of her in his room? Perhaps Mia and Seth are a couple judging by the picture, but I have never seen Mia with a boy before. Mia and Seth have their arms over each other's shoulders, beaming at the camera while standing in front of a palm tree. They must be on a beach from their home world. It looks as though Mia must be important to this "Seth" person. But I am not here to analyze her relationships, I am here to figure out how the Heartless are getting here. I fold the picture and slip it into the inside of my kimono sleeve. The two people here left for good, I made sure of that by checking the study and I found it to be completely empty. Noisily hurrying the hallway, I spot another path I have not checked out yet. I find a door opened ajar, darker than in the hallway.

I step in and the bedroom brightens up as if affected by my presence, but there are no light bulbs or candles here. It is nothing to fuss about; sticking from a chest by my feet I pull out the long sheet of paper that looks like some sort of diagram. The dots on the diagram are segregated-on the left side where violet and black orbs that swirl, labeled World 12, World seven, World 41, etc. On the right side are the turquoise and white glowing dots, labeled World 62, World 97, World 75, etc. "The Heartless symbol," I notice on some of the light-colored dots. Is this the amount of worlds that have been taken over by the Heartless? Why is there so many-would my world be on this strange map? I cannot comprehend the labeled dots, what does it mean? My eyes lock onto the flashing Heartless emblem on World 75. "That world, it is almost falling into the hands of the Heartless." A gentle gust hits me from behind.

"What?" I drop the map and side-swipe the incoming claw reaching for my face. "Nngh!" I manage to deflect it from my face but it gets my shoulder. As I try to pull it out, the masked Angel Island intruder gets his hand around his throat and lifts me. "Cl-Clancy, s-stop." His grasp only gets tighter. The diagram slips from my hand as I reach for the claw digging into my shoulder blade. "Don't you…nngh…recognize-" I cough as I rip his fingers off me and yank the claw out, throwing it in his face. I drop to the floor gasping for air, and clench my fists. "How could you do this to me?"

Robotically, Masked Clancy struggles to his feet and slowly lunges towards me. I quickly jab him in the face and before he can fall backward, I snatch his tight suit and knee him in the chest. His body is so cold, what happened to him? _Darkness is coming for you, _his phrase still haunts me. "The Darkness will not come for either of us Clancy!" I grab the back of his head and smash his face into my knee repeatedly. His mask eventually cracks but I will not stop until I get my friend back.

After pummeling him until drops of violet form a small puddle on the floor, I prop him against the bedframe and snatch his hair, pulling his face close to mine. I can hear him panting slowly, as if breathing is making him hurt. The claw did not dig in too deep, only a little blood is seeping through my kimono. "Speak to me now," I command curtly. Black liquid is dripping down his cheeks and when I see his eyes look toward the grappling hook, I pick it up and throw it away from him. Lack of emotion clouds his dark eyes, and his face got so pale! We used to balance each other out-he had all the energy and the most vibrant eyes within his brown eyes while I was the serious one with dull sienna eyes. "Why will you not talk to me?"

"He was not meant to do that, Keyblade Wielder." The man's intimidating voice makes me release my grip on Clancy. Why did I not sense someone behind me before? "How did you wander here little Keyblade Wielder?"

When I face him, I stand up and summon the Keyblade. "So the Keyblade picked a cursed girl to save the world." The man looks as if he has been baptized in waters thick with Darkness. A man that I should be genuinely afraid of. "Don't worry Keyblade Wielder, I'm not here for a fight."

"What did you do to Clancy?"

"The friend of which you speak of is not here, he's far from here. That is nothing but a clone."

J.G.P.

**It took forever but finally I finished. Hope you guys like where this is going!**


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